UN / LOCUST INVASION UPDATE

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20-Mar-2020
00:01:14

UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said humanitarians expect “a rapid deterioration in the Desert Locust situation in the Greater Horn of Africa” with widespread breeding and new swarms starting to form. UNIFEED

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Our humanitarian colleagues expect a rapid deterioration in the Desert Locust situation in the Greater Horn of Africa. There is widespread breeding, and new swarms are starting to form. As a result, this will pose an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods, as the next upsurge will coincide with the main cropping season across much of the region. Aerial and ground locust control operations by governments are ongoing with the support of the FAO and have reached thousands of hectares across the region. However, if the swarms are not fully contained, impacts on crops will drive up hunger in areas already facing high levels of food insecurity. Some 42 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen are already facing severe food insecurity. The FAO locust appeal has been revised to include Sudan and Yemen and now calls for 153 million USD - that’s up from 138 million - to support the response in ten countries. As of 18 March, 110 million USD had already been pledged.”

STORYLINE:

UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said humanitarians expect “a rapid deterioration in the Desert Locust situation in the Greater Horn of Africa” with widespread breeding and new swarms starting to form.

Addressing the press remotely from his residence, Dujarric said this deterioration would pose “an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods, as the next upsurge will coincide with the main cropping season across much of the region.”

He added that aerial and ground locust control operations by governments were ongoing with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and have reached thousands of hectares across the region. However, Dujarric stressed that “if the swarms are not fully contained, impacts on crops will drive up hunger in areas already facing high levels of food insecurity.”

The UN spokesperson said some 42 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen are already facing severe food insecurity. He added that the FAO locust appeal “has been revised to include Sudan and Yemen and now calls for 153 million USD - that’s up from 138 million - to support the response in ten countries. As of 18 March, 110 million USD had already been pledged.”